“What risk?” Miller asks, and I shrug. How am I supposed to know what they were talking about?

Then Brecken looks at me. “What had you done that day? Where had you gone that someone could have seen you?”

“Nowhere,” I say thinking back to that day. “I had slept most of that day. I was just lying around the house when Jenna had called me to ask her to cover her shift. Then while I was getting ready, I saw where Rox’s club had been raided. I got to the club as quick as I could to tell Case.” I roll my eyes at how stupid that sounded. “He obviously already knew.” I sigh. “We got into a fight … then I started my shift. My brother came by to check on me …”

“Maybe he was the one being followed,” Brecken offers.

Case shakes his head still giving us his back. “They would have attacked him first, not days later,” he muses.

“Did anyone come with him?” Miller asks.

I shake my head. “Not that I know of.”

“Who all had he talked to while he was there?” Brecken questions.

“I don’t know.” I sigh. I just wanna go to sleep, and I want people to stop trying to kill us. “The place was packed, and he wouldn’t have stayed long because Savannah wasn’t with him.”

Brecken goes to open his mouth, but the door to his room flies open. I jump and Case spins around when it bangs against the wall.

“Oh, my God.”

We all stand and watch with surprise on our faces as Rachel runs in and jumps onto Brecken’s bed. He lets out a growl as if her pouncing has caused him pain. She straddles him, and my eyes widen in shock. Is she gonna fuck him right here?

“Baby!” she cries out as she places her hands on either side of his face. “Are you okay?”

He goes to speak, but she crashes her lips to his. She lets out a moan as she rocks her hips.

“Oookkkaaayyyy,” I mumble as I place my hand up to shield her affection toward him.

“What are you doing here, Rachel?” I hear Case snap.

I lower my hand, and she pulls away from Brecken’s face. He licks his lips and grabs her hands, pushing her body away from his, but she remains straddling his hips. She looks over her shoulder at Case and gives him a fuck you look that I know all too well from her. “I came to check on Brecken. I heard he got shot.”

“Yeah. Nine days ago,” I snap. I don’t know Rachel all that well, but I do know she is all about herself.

She snaps her head around to look over her other shoulder to give me the death glare. “I didn’t know that since dickhead fired me. I haven’t been to the club. You didn’t even call me.” She looks back down at Brecken and pushes out her bottom lip. “I had to hear it from a friend.”

I look away from her and frown. Who had fired her? I hadn’t heard about that, but I’ll ask later. Now’s not the time and place.

“I’m fine,” he says pushing her away even more. She has no choice but to get off his hospital bed.

“You shouldn’t be here,” Case growls as he leans his back against the window that overlooks Chicago.

She looks him up and down with a look of disgust on her face, and I wonder what is going on between them. Things have been so crazy since our fight over her; we haven’t had the chance to talk about where they stand now.

“You look like shit!” she spits as she places her hands on her hips. She pushes out her hip, and it makes her short skirt rise up and shows off her ass. “Not get enough sleep last night?” She arches a dark eyebrow.

“No. I didn’t actually. So you would be smart to leave before I have you thrown out.” Case gets a cruel smile on his face. “Or go ahead and stay. You’ve never really been one to do what’s smart.”

She snorts. “Obviously. I did you, didn’t I?”

This is the most awkward position I have ever been in. I go to turn to leave the room when she turns to face me. “He’s a cop,” she announces.

I refrain from smiling. “You don’t say?”

Miller chuckles and covers it with a cough. I look over at Case and a smile tugs his lips. It’s the first real one since the fire yesterday. “He …”

“Save it.” I hold up my hand. “I know everything, Rachel.” And I do mean everything.

She huffs and spins around to face Brecken. “When are you being released?” She changes the subject.

“Tomorrow.” He hopes.

“Do you want me to come and get you? I can take you back to my place,” she offers, and I pray he says no. I feel like Rachel wouldn’t have much sympathy. Or that she would be the type to try and poison your coffee.

“Thanks, but Case and Miller have offered to help me out,” he tells her and I smile. Good for him.

She walks over to his bed and leans over it to give him a kiss. “I’ll come over tomorrow night and check on you.” She leans but he pulls away from her last minute.

I have to give her credit. She doesn’t let things affect her. Or if they do, she just hides it well. She turns toward me and throws me a fuck you smile as she walks back out the door.

Brecken bows his head and sighs. “You guys don’t have to be up here.” He looks at Miller and then Case. “Go ahead and go to my house. Get some rest. Case, I’m sure you have places to call and things to deal with,” he adds softly.

He nods his head, and I hate that everything he owns is now nothing but ashes. But Brecken is right; Case does need to take care of some stuff. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” He walks over to Brecken’s bed, and they do the manly one-arm hug and handshake. He then walks over to me and drapes an arm over my shoulders. I say a good-bye and wave to the guys as he leads me out of the hospital room.

“Who fired Rachel?” I ask as we get into my car. We didn’t need anyone to come and get us from Case’s house yesterday ‘cause along with the fire trucks, two ambulances also arrived. As the fire trucks put out the fire, the paramedics gave us oxygen then made us ride with them to the hospital last night to be checked out. Miller had then driven us all back to my house, and we took showers and then went back up to the hospital to see Brecken while Savannah and Blane stayed back at our house.

“I fired her,” he answers as he drives my car onto the highway.

“When?”

“The night she caused the fight. Pretending to be a hooker.”

My eyes widen at that. “She was pretending to be a hooker?” I frown. “Maybe I didn’t know everything,” I mumble to myself.

He chuckles at that. Reaching over, he grabs my hand and places them both on the center console. “She had it coming,” he growls. “She was always pulling shit Brecken and I had to clean up.”

I nod my head in understanding but don’t press the subject. He fired her and that’s that.

**

I sit on my bed with my back against my headboard when Case comes walking in with a towel wrapped around his hips. His hard body still wet. I lick my lips wanting him. My heart picks up and I clench my thighs. It’s been about a week since we’ve had sex. And I hate the fact I don’t even think he wants it. He’s got so much going on that sex is probably the last thing on his mind.

“Stop looking at me like that.”

I lift my eyes up to meet his, and my face heats up with embarrassment. “Sorry,” I say softly and lower them to my comforter.

“Taylor?”

I slowly look up at him through my lashes. “What are you sorry for?”

I bite my lip nervously. “I know you have a lot going on, and I don’t mean to get in the way of that.”

He crawls onto the bed and makes his way up to me. He lies down beside me, and I can’t help but watch how his abs flex as he gets situated. “You never get in the way,” he says pulling his brows together. “Why would you think that?”

“Because you told me to quit looking at you like that …”

He sighs. “I told you that because you were making me hard and I didn’t think you were ready for sex.”

I still think back to the meeting I had with my dad a week ago and it still makes me mad, but I don’t talk about it. Neither does Blane. It’s as if he’s just been forgotten. My mother is still a sore subject as well, but I can’t change it. All I can do is remember the good times I shared with her. Even if she did do drugs, she never let me down. That doesn’t make it any better, but it also didn’t make her a horrible mother.